Nadine moaned, sitting up on the bed and using a hand to massage the back of her neck. The room was filled with bright light, but from the windows, she noticed the darkness of the night; the sky was pitch black except for the light of a few stars. She was alone in the room, but there had been someone there while she slept. The clothes she left on the floor and the pieces of her gown had disappeared. Even the broken door was fixed like it was never broken. She frowned, wondering how long and how strongly she had slept.

Her shoes were gone, and the wrap on her hand was gone as well, but her clothes remained intact. She finally walked off the bed, finding her feet before wobbling weakly over to the door. The knob turned under her fingers, and she sighed in relief; she had not been locked in, so hopefully, whoever kidnapped her was gone. There was a chance she could try again; she couldn't stay in this house.

She used the rails to get herself down, but she turned and bumped into someone. Nadine yelped, her hands reaching out to catch the hand of the man as she was stumbling back to prevent falling on the floor. He held her up, and she looked up at him, the memory finally slamming into her harder than a truck. Her eyes darted across his features, pushing him away when she found her footing. She backed away, rushing around the nearest chair to get away from him even though he didn't chase her. He only sat, watching her blankly.

"You," she swallowed, shaking her head for clarity. "You were at the wedding in Santa Montes. I bumped into you."

"I am surprised you remember." He crossed his legs, using his hand to indicate that she sit down. She hesitated for a moment, finally deciding to take a seat since she felt unstable. The man waited, inhaling deeply before he spoke. "We looked each other in the eye, and recognition that was mere seconds for me has still not dawned on you yet. Not surprised, I have spent a while looking at you. How could I forget a face I saw everywhere?"

He unfolded his legs, leaning forward to fill a glass with water and stood to hand it over to her. Nadine was sceptical of the drink, she was afraid to drink anything he offered, in the case that he laced it with something else. She feared for her baby's safety but was even more scared to tell her kidnapper she was pregnant before he turned on her baby as well. She accepted the glass, whispering her thanks and silent prayer before taking a generous gulp. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, resting the glass on her lap and looked back at him.

"It was never about Dominic," she stated with understanding, then asking him directly, "Was it?"

He laughed then, shaking his head to confirm. "No. Your husband has nothing to do with this, but that is between you and me. The one I want to suffer, the one I was to see broken until they have nothing left, completely empty, is you."

Nadine sucked in her tears, keeping her glare strong and not giving away any of the fear that was overwhelming her. She had a nagging feeling he was waiting for her to remember who he was, but she couldn't; nothing aside from looking at him at the wedding was sinking in.

"What's your name."

"That would make things too easy for you, wouldn't it?" He sighed, relaxing back against the chair. Even with his calm demeanour, she feared that whatever he was trying to hold back would explode in her face at any moment. "The story wouldn't make meaning without it though."

"Story?"

"The whole reason you are here in the first place."

"What is your name then?"

"Alex Darwin."

Her blood almost froze over. She was surprised the glass didn't tip out of her hands because her body suddenly went numb. She hadn't heard, or even thought, about that name in years. In fourteen years, to be exact. When she left her family, she stayed away from everything, but she didn't think back to the reason, she never thought back to the man that prompted her to escape. Well, he had been a boy then, and she had been a girl.

"Alex." She breathed, setting the glass down on the table beside her. She blinked rapidly, a hand flattening against her chest as her breathing roughened. "Alex Darwin. You are...you are Joel's brother."

Alex laughed painfully, his hand squeezing the armrest of the sofa as he nodded tightly. She could see the chords of his neck stand out. In withheld anger or pure outrage, she couldn't tell. Honestly, she didn't want to find out. She found herself trying to remember the outline of the house, in case he exploded, she wanted a safe place to lock herself. It was useless because the man in front of her had the keys to every room.

"I am surprised you remember his name." He was speaking through clenched teeth now, and Nadine was considering holding the glass again. No matter what he had to say, she intended to defend herself if he came near her with any malicious action. "He never forgot yours."

That made her mind stutter. She looked over to the door, expecting the other brother to swagger in. Maybe they both wanted to relish her suffering. Why they wanted her to suffer was beyond her, but the human mind could be just as optimistic as it could be sick and twisted.

"W-where is he? Joel?"

"Dead." He replied coldly. Nadine remained still, not bothering to ask him another question. Alex was watching her; she wasn't sure if he wanted her to ask or if he would proceed to tell her himself. In the end, he chose to just move along with his supposed story. "He died, trying to find you. After you went missing, he looked everywhere for you and helped your parents however he could, never giving up. Did they even tell you that he died? Did they even mention it after they finally found you? Their missing little girl. Princess Nadine Shearman."

From the anger toiling behind his eyes, Nadine was tempted to lie, but she felt that the truth would be less dangerous and decided to shake her head.

Alex laughed, shoving his fingers into his hair, his face contorting in misery. "Joel looked for you day and night, nothing, and no one could convince him that you were dead, that you were not out there. For reasons beyond me, beyond our family, he loved you. You! A woman, a girl, who did nothing but leave when faced with the choice of being with him. I considered him mad, but that madness was what he called love. It tormented him, thinking that just to be happy, you were out there suffering when you could have been happy by his side. He wanted to convince you that he could make you happy."

Alex laughed again, pushing up from the seat, but he didn't approach her. Nadine only sat, too awestruck and paralyzed with fear to do anything but listen to him speak.

"I couldn't understand it, maybe he had a better explanation he shared with himself but never with me. He died, and then years later, almost a decade, I have you in front of me. You bumped into me at that wedding, and the moment I saw you, I knew. Only after seeing your sister come out of the bathroom did I finally have absolutely no doubt it was you. I saw your dress. You didn't look like you came to serve champagne; you were a guest. Unfortunately, no one knew who you were but someone, after asking everybody I knew, recognized your husband."

"Please, if this is about revenge, don't involve Dominic." She cautioned herself from using 'my husband' or calling him 'Dom'. Nadine felt that Alex wasn't in the mood to hear her pet name for her husband. "He had nothing to do with it."

"Your husband is none of my business," he assured. "Funny thing is when you make choices, people are hurt, whether it's your intention or not. Your husband getting hurt was never in my plan, but by taking you, he would suffer greatly the pain of having his wife disappear."

"Like your brother suffered?"

"Gosh, I swear I forgot all about it. So convinced that all my rancour, all my anger, and all my rage had seeped away in time, but I guess not. Maybe it's the fact that you weren't miserable. The fact that you found a life for yourself, living happy and content. To make it worse, in learning about your life, I noticed they were hardships after leaving him, but you were always happy. Nothing to match the twisted, scared, and lost scenario my brother painted in his mind. While he raced to save you from whatever he thought you needed saving from, you were living a happy and simple life."

A tear escaped her eyes, but she immediately wiped it away, holding herself together by a fraying thread as she watched Alex tormented sorrow unfold in front of her. She remembered being like him, that was what hurt most of all. Not exactly as unstable but equally as tormented, pacing the floors of her room as she plotted her escape from home.

"I told you I found out who your husband was, right? I sat a few tables away, watching him. He was affectionate with you. You had come from the bathroom panicked, scared, and a bit shaken, but he didn't know why. He was caring, telling you sweet nothings, possibly, couldn't hear from where I sat. He was everything my brother wanted to be for you. Ah, so many months I spent trying to convince him that you weren't worth him throwing his life away. You didn't even love him back.

"He was adamant that many people fall in love after they have gotten the opportunity, and once you gave him a chance, you'd surely love him. Joel wasn't much of a reader, and he read much fewer books of romantic genres, so I couldn't blame his delusions on cliched stories." He faced her again, bracing his arm on the sofa, thoughtfully assessing her. "Be honest. Was he ever on your mind after you ran? Once."

Nadine swallowed and shook her head. "No. I don't even know why he would be so enamoured with me. We never said anything to each other."

"Funny how the mind works, doesn't it? And yes, I realise the irony of me saying that." He took his seat, nodding to himself. "While you felt cornered and a stifling need to be set free, my brother was writing love stories in his mind. He was sure he would make you satisfied."

"How did he die?" She mustered the courage to ask.

"Car accident. That day he received a call, telling me that someone finally had news about you, but they wanted money for it. He was so sure it wasn't a trick; the person was just greedy and knew the worth of the knowledge he held. No matter what I said, no matter what my parents threatened him with, he wouldn't be dissuaded from saving you, the love of his life. It took everything not to punch the senses into him. We argued, and he decided he would prove us all wrong. He left and called hours later saying he found you. He said he saw the picture, you were at a bus station waiting, but before, he could say anything else, he swerved off the road."

"How long ago was this?"

"Five years after your Count of Monte Cristo act. His car caught on fire, so whatever information he bought, with over a hundred thousand, in cash, burnt along with it. No one knew his source, but they believed that he would know your face. It is because of that, that simple reason, your parents didn't lose faith that you were alive. He lived in misery for years while you were living the life you always wanted. Free of everything, including him."

"It wasn't my fault." She finally screamed, jumping from the chair to face him. He stood in front of her. Both of them seething in each other's faces, but none was ready to pull back. Nadine held back her tears, keeping her voice clear. "I would not let you act as if I asked him to do anything like that."

"You could have done something other than run away like a thief in the night." Alex spat back. His muscles were rolling with furry, his fists clenched, but he didn't come any closer to her. She was grateful he seemed content with only spitting venom in her face. She couldn't imagine the darkness in his heart, she didn't think she wanted to find out.

"I did everything I could," she tried to defend, her chest rising and falling from exertion. "You don't know how much I begged for my parents to withdraw to pull away, not to make me do something I didn't want. Your brother fell in love, I didn't. I would have hated him, and seeing how much you love him, you would have hated me. Our lives would have been bitter."

"You could have written." He shouted, and she shrank back for a second but stood her ground. Alex flinched away first, slapping an unsuspecting couch in frustration. "When your life was perfect, and you were happy, couldn't you have put everyone else out of their misery? You could have sent the letter from a different address, whatever. A picture with a note behind it saying that you were okay. How difficult would that have been? You left them to suffer, to toil to worry, and you can't tell me you didn't know that they were in misery."

Nadine stuttered, tears finally rushing down her cheeks, but she didn't wipe them off this time. "How long do you plan on keeping me here."

Alex laughed. "Long enough. While your husband back home worries that you are suffering unimaginable torture or that your life is in danger, you'd be here. The only horrible thing you would be suffering from is boredom. He would exhaust everything, searching for you, probably thinking you are being mistreated, and you know what, he would get nothing. No letter of explanation, no goodbye, nothing."

"Dominic has nothing to do with this. You don't have to be cruel to him too."

"My brother deserved to suffer? No, I don't think so, but your choice to save yourself made him suffer all the same." Alex had tears in his eyes when he was looking at her, his eyes searching her pained ones. "I want you to know how it feels to be on the receiving end of the pain. To know there is someone who is suffering, and you can't do anything to take it away. You would rot in your mind wondering what he thinks, what he is spending, and who he is blaming. Your husband is like my brother, a man who truly loved you and wanted to take care of you. The only difference is that at least you love him, so you are going to feel his pain the way my brother felt yours."

"I hate you." She whispered finally, and he smiled, nodding in agreement. Nadine sucked in more air, walking closer to repeat loudly. He was the reason she and Dominic had toiled for months, wondering who wanted to see them hurt. He planned the shooting at the funeral and orchestrated the letters to turn the attention away from her and towards Dominic. He had a point, her family had forgotten his brother, or at least never mentioned him to her. It could take them ages to even finger him as a suspect. "I hate you. I hate you. I hate you!"

She pushed him out of her way and bolted for the stairs, tears falling so hard she could barely see her next steps, but somehow, she made it to her room. Nadine slammed the door shut, her palm banging down on the wood with enough force to sting. She screamed, crumbling the floor in rage, still hitting the door and venting out her anger. Finally, she backed the door, slamming her elbow against it for good measure before collapsing in exhaustion.

As she sat on the floor, her back pressed against the door, she painfully realised that she didn't know how long he had her here. She had woken up without knowing how long had passed, then he captured her again, and she still didn't know how many days had passed since she last saw Dominic. Alex was right, her husband would be tormented, even worse if he came across the results she tried to hide. Dominic would think the worst, and she would be in a large mansion with food and water, suffering as Alex so wisely put it, only boredom—and pain.